Above & Beyond Unearth Long-Lost Demo for Aching New Single, "Start a Fire"

There's something deeply satisfying about rediscovering something you'd completely forgotten you owned, like finding a $20 bill in last winter's coat pocket or realizing that embarrassing MySpace post from 2006 actually contained some decent poetry. For Above & Beyond's Paavo Siljamäki, that moment came when bandmate Tony McGuinness breathed new life into a forgotten instrumental demo that had been gathering digital dust for nearly a decade.

"Start A Fire," the latest single from Above & Beyond's upcoming album Bigger Than All Of Us, began as what Siljamäki calls a "deep instrumental cut" from his personal archives. McGuinness says he had an epiphany one day that the music would be perfect for a forgotten lyric he'd written in a notebook some years ago: "There's enough of you in me to start a fire."

The song finally clicked during a trip to the scenic Gorge Amphitheatre, where its verses came together and formed what "ended up being one of our favorites," McGuinness said. The iconic dance music trio then reunited with the ever-reliable Richard Bedford, the voice behind a number of their most prized tracks, like "Sun & Moon" and "Thing Called Love."

Bedford's vocals are equal parts ache and ecstasy, delivering McGuinness' lyrical anchor with the kind of romantic sincerity you'd expect from such a timeless collaborative pact. And with Above & Beyond's heady house production at the bedrock, the track is energetic but just sentimental enough to stare out of a rideshare window like you're in a breakup montage.

You can listen to "Start a Fire" below and find the new single on streaming platforms here. Above & Beyond's first album in seven years, Bigger Than All Of Us, is scheduled to release July 18th via their own Anjunabeats label.

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